Improvement in processes for decomposing fats



WRIGHT & FOUCHE.

Decomposing Fats.

Patented Jan. 25, 1859.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT A. \VRIGll'l AN!) lQOlllS .i. FOUOIIFJ, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES FOR DECOMPOSlNG FATS.

Specification forming part: of Letters Patent No. 22,765, dated January 25, 1859.

To all 2071 0721 it may concern.-

Ee it known that we, ROBERT ALFRED WRIGHT, civil enginer, and LOUIS JULEs FOUCHE, steam-boiler maker, of Paris, in the Empire of France, have invented a new Apparatus Destined to Produce Chemical Decomposition byMeans of Superheated Steam and \Vater; and we do hereby declare that t he followingis a Full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the annexed sheet of drawings, making a part of the same.

The apparatus which it is the objectot the present patent. to secure is susceptible oli several industrial applications; but as it is chiefly intended for the dccoinposi ion of fatty substances into fatty acids and glyccrine we will describe it as applied to that purpose.

This invention is represented in the annexed drawings, wherein- Figure 1 shows the elevation of the apparatus complete; Fig. 2, the vertical section of a part of the apparatus modilied; Fig. I the vertical section of a part of the apparatus in a modilied t'orm; lastly, Fig. l, the horizontal section of the same moditied apparatus.

The dimensions of the apparatus may vary with the various purposes to which it maybe applied. in these figures the samelctters indicate the same parts when they recur.

o is a metal (iron or copper) boiler, of any form whatever, placed in a t'urnacein order to be heated by a naked tire. 'lhis lmiler has sides sul'ticicntly strong to resist a pressure of from ten totwenty atmospheres. it is ot' variable capacity. aecordingto the requirements oi. the manufacture, and it may have its in tcrior lined with lead or by any other metal which will not be attached by the fat y bodies which are to be introduced and produced therein.

1) is the hearth; c, ash-pit; :1, dipping-pipe furnished with a cock to empty the apparatus by pressure; P, man-hole serving i'or cleaning the cylindrical vessel (1 and tor the introduction of subste'tnces, it retplired; j, metal tube (of iron or copper) coniuarting the bottom of the boiler o. with thebottotn ol cylinder it: 1;, metaltube o1 ascension conducting thesuperheated water from the boiler it to the upper part of cylinder 11, This tube is terminated in the interior of the cylinder 11 by a rose-jet,

or,inore simply, holes are made in the extremity, so as to distribute the water uniformly in the cylinder 72, and to insure a molecular or finely subdivided contact between the superheated water and the substance submitted to the operation.

it is an iron oreopper upper cylindeigwhich should, like boiler o be able to resistapressure of from ten to twenty atmospheres. This cylinder It receives the substances to be treated.

i is a tunnel furnished with a tube and with a cock serving for the introduction of the substances to be treated into the cylinder /Ithat is, when this substance is of such a nature as to be introduced through a small. aperture; ls, man-hole serving for cleaning the cylinder 71, and for the intrmluction of substances to be treated which cannot. pass through the funnel 1'; l, safety-valve; in, manometer or pressure gage indicatingthe pressure in the whole of the apparatus; n 2?, cocks serving to indicate the height and level of the substance and ot' the water in cylinder II; o, cock serving to empty the cylinder when the operationis completed.

Jlt'fitiii of the oppa retus.Hupposi 11g everything arranged as shown in the drawings, then, in order to decompose fatty substances into fatty acids and into glyccrine, the boiler o: is completely tilled with water, the cylinder 1: is titled with water up to one-thirdof its height, and it is then tilled up to the level of the upper cock with the fatty bodies to be decomposed. The introduction of the fatty bodies takes place, as we have said, either through the tunnel 1 or by the man-hole It. The boiler (l is then gradually heated till the pressure-gage indicates a pressure of from ten to twenty atmospheres, according to the nat are of the substances submitted to the 0perat ion, when the following takes place: The HillJOllililtUti water in the boiler rt acquires an ascending motion on account of the (litterence in the temperature of the two capacities o and It. A eurrentis thus created, whence it results that the heated water in boiler (t ascends through the tube 1/ into the cylinder 72,

and being forcibly driven out through the holes in the rose-jet passes through the fatty bodies and descends again through the tube f to the bottom of the boiler u, where it is again warmed, in order torccommence its ascending motion, and so on. \Vhen this operation has been thus continued during; a length of time which may vary from live to eight hours, according to the nature of the fatty bodies operated on, and also according to the variation of pressure, (varyingfrom ten to twenty atmospheres,) the fatty bodies are decomposed into glycerine, which remains dissolved in the water, and into fatty acids, which lloat in the cylinder It. The contents are now emptied out and separated from each other at the same time.

In Figs. 3, 3, and t we have represented modifications of the heating-boiler (i Thus in Fig". :3 the boiler is heated by a continuous current of steam. For this purpose, 1) is a double casing receiving; the steam. r and q are the entering and exit pipes. This same apparatus having the double casing may be placed on a furnace with a naked lire, so as to form a wateebath at high temperature. It is furnished with a man-hole and safety-valve. (Not re nesented in the drawings.) In Fig. I the water in the boiler-u isheated by a worm, s, having one branch. lcai'ling' from any generator whatever and returning to the same generator by the other branch. in Fig. the water in boiler o is heated by a horizontal worm, I, having one branch coming from any suitable generator and returning to this same generator by the other branch.

In conclusion, we would remark that we are aware that, iii-st, the decomposition of fatty bodies by water under the iniluence of heat and of pressure is a well-known scientiiic lact- \Yaier is substituted for the organic basis. It forms a peri'ect and deiined combination with the fatty acids, while the glycerine is dissolved in the excess of water; secondly, that as this chemical action takes place under the iniluence of a weak aiiinity it is necessary, in addition to the above-named. physical and chemical eonditions,to insure a perfect molecnlar agitation of the whole mass, and that we wish it to be understood that what we wish to claim and establish as oi our invention consists of an apparatus wherein the water and the fatty matters areheated stparatclyintwo different boilers. The first boiler is heated by the source of heat, while the second boiler is heated by the first boiler.

In these boilers the agitation necessary for the chemical action and combination is produced by the pressure of the heated waterin the first boiler. This water circulates continuously from this first boiler to the second boiler and from the second to the lirst. in a continuous and self-acting or automatic man ner without interruption. V

The distinctive characteristics of our apparains are that it produces agitation by circulation alone-a continuous and automatic circulation produced by the pressure of the water.

Lastly, our apparatus eil'ects its chemical action in a continuous manner without the aid of any manual or other assistance.

llaving described. the nature of our invention and the manner in which the same is to be iiertormed, we do not claim the application of smwrheated 'ater t'or decomposing t'atty bodies, nor the form of the apparatus above described, which may vary somewhat, according to conditions and circumstances; but,

What we claim as our invention is Producing a continuous automatic circulation oi highly-heated water in a very linclydivided state through the bodies under treatment by means of an apparatus constructed and employed substantially as herein shown and described.

HUNT. A. WRIGHT. L. .l. l tii'tlll l. 

